 The World Economic Forum is delighted to host this meeting on financing the Amazon's transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. In support of the important regionally led efforts, aiming to build constructive partnerships at different levels and to provide real, innovative and integral solutions for the sustainability of the Amazon. We're particularly building on the long-standing work of the Amazon Corporation Treaty Organization Act, the strides of the Letitia Pact process, and the significant role of the Inter-American Development Bank. These efforts have stressed the need to mobilize multi-stakeholder resources founded on the importance of protecting and restoring the Amazon basin and its vast nature, with a unique ecosystem that hosts around one-fourth of all the world's species, while also primarily addressing the needs of 38 million people from 420 different indigenous and tribal communities living in the Amazon with remarkable cultural richness and diversity. Indeed, the impact of the pandemic on the Amazon is a reminder of the urgent need to strengthen capacities further, to deliver enhanced social services, advance people's livelihoods, and ensure the community's well-being. Along with important work being laid by governments, communities and civil society, conscious and responsible private sector engagement is also key to realize the potential of the Amazon's bioeconomy, which can combine nature's conservation and restoration with job creation, business opportunities, and social value. Understanding what a sustainable path for the Amazon and its bioeconomy concretely means and finding convergent paths to mobilize responsible local, regional, and international resources is fundamental, particularly at this challenging time when collaboration based on trust and respect are needed, and public-private cooperation is essential to catalyze and enhance impact. We have a stellar cast of committed leaders to guide us through these issues, who I will gradually introduce and bring into the conversation as we advance. I'm really delighted to introduce the President of Colombia, Ivan Duque. Mr. President, it is an honor to have you with us again and to learn about your vision and current priorities towards mobilizing resources for a sustainable future for the Amazon. Mr. President, please. Be here with you. I want also to express my gratitude to the President of the IDB, my good friend Mauricio Clavercaron. I also express my salute to Vice President Hamilton Mural from Brazil, and my salute as well to Maria Alexandra Moreira, the Secretary of OTCA, and also the fellow panelists that are joining us from the private sector and from the non-profit sector. I may begin by saying, Marisol, that the Amazon is one of the most important treasures of the world, and although it is clear that we have a sovereign attitude towards the Amazon because it's part of our territory, it's a richness that we share with the world. And some people might not know, but the Amazon has a size that is almost 7 million square kilometers. That's twice the size of India. We also look at the Amazon and we found out that it captures year over year more than 100,000 million of carbon dioxide metric tons. So the Amazon is not only the host of biodiversity and that hosts 10% of the biodiversity of the world, but it's also essential to protect the world from the effects of climate change. But the Amazon also has another reality. It has more than 33 million living inside and something close to 2.6 million indigenous people from different communities. So this is a land that we all have to protect, and this is a land that we all have to value. But in order to value, to understand its potential, we need to be clear which are the major threats the Amazon faces. And I would say that the main threat is deforestation, deforestation that comes from illegal crops, from illegal mining, from illegal wood development, and also for illegal cattle production. So all the countries share the basin, we all have to focus to face those threats. And the best way to do it is to understand what the Amazon represents in terms of nature-based solutions. So that's why we launched the Leticia Pact almost three years ago, and we launched it in order to have all the countries that share the Amazon basin with their specific objectives. And those objectives are facing deforestation, reducing it, be able to create the concept of nature-based solution contracts with the indigenous communities, and be able to turn the cities that are in the Amazon bio-diverse cities, which are cities that in the concept of development are pretty much intertwined with the idea of protecting bio-diversity as a treasure, and bio-diversity as something that is essential for different purposes. And that means that those areas have to move a line with clean mobility, have to move a line with reducing, reusing, recycling, circular economy, and it also has to do with understanding that there's a value in regular Amazonic products that managed in a responsible way can open working opportunities for communities. So when we look at this event, this event has a very important value because we're calling multilateral agencies like the IDB that has been participating in the Leticia Pact and putting together the objectives for all the countries, WEF, obviously, as the host of this event. That is thinking of how the private sector can contribute to the protection of the Amazon and obviously the nonprofit sector. The private sector is so conscious about the importance of the Amazon, and it puts resources that can be linked to nature conservation contracts with communities. What we will do is that we will be able to protect the areas that have been affected and put in place the strongest plan ever to reforest the areas that have been badly affected in the Amazon in the last decades. And the second most important element is that we need to combine that the investments that are aimed to protect the Amazon can easily be valued internationally in the carbon and the CO2 market around the world. Either it's the Chicago market or the European market, or we can build a regional market. But that's important because the contribution can help have net effects on the emissions and in other places of the world, other companies are creating. And I should mention as well that the other biggest challenge in terms of the transition in Amazon is to find out the important that the Amazon has in all the water cycles around the world. Colombia has only 6% of the Amazon basin, but that's 6% that we have in the Amazon basin represents 35 of the Colombian soil. And that implies that the most important contribution to protect the tropical forest that we can do is to connect the conscience of Colombians around the country and understand that the cycles of water from high altitude ecosystems is also linked with the Amazon and the capacity of the Amazon to protect integrally our territory. So when we put all this together, there are three purposes that we think we have to accomplish fast. Accelerate private sector participation, mobilize nature, conservancy, contracts with local communities. And how do we link the protection of biodiversity with innovation? And that's the idea that we have also presented before the Leticia Pact and is to have more eco-business, biobusiness that can use the richness of the Amazon in a sustainable way so that we show to the world that those products have value in health, value in nutrition. And if they can be maximized and they can be exponentially maximized, it can also connect the world with consuming sustainable projects from the Amazon that can give communities a lasting form of living that is in accordance with the idea of protection and not being tempted by the effects of businesses like illegal mining or illegal crops or just even illegal cattle development. With that, the compromise that we have from Colombia, it's clear. And I value as well that the WEF and the IDB are joining us in the idea of biodiverse cities so that all the cities and all the communities that are involved as part of the Amazonic basin can have that seal that they will be considered around the world a symbol of nature-based solution. That's my call. And I think this event, having leaders from all the sectors, can accelerate the participation towards the next event that we will have in the WEF and launching today the idea of biodiverse cities where we all join to protect the treasure of the Amazon. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. That was such a very eloquent and very necessary call. You can count with the World Economic Forum's contributions to support those objectives in bringing private sector into the support that is needed for the Amazon working with innovation and also bringing in the communities. It's also a great pleasure to introduce the Vice President of Brazil, Vice President Hamilton Morão. I had the honor to visit you in Brasilia over a year ago and we hosted you during our Sustainable Development Summit last September. How has the Amazon agenda been impacted during these past months and what is your current vision and priorities to mobilize resources for a sustainable future for the Amazon and its inhabitants? Mr. Vice President? Thank you. Mr. Ibanduki, President of the Republic of Colombia, Mrs. Maria Alejandra Moriera Lopez, Secretary-General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, Mr. Mauricio Claver Caroni, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Marisol Argueta from the World Economic Forum, ladies and gentlemen, good day. I would like to thank the World Economic Forum for organizing, once again, a gathering where high-level stakeholders truly committed to bringing about the sustainable development and preservation of the Amazon can openly discuss the future of this important bio. 2020 has been, without any question, the most challenging year in recent history, not only to our populations and economy, but also to the environment. Despite limited availability of resource due to the pandemic, Brazil has worked nonstop in order to curb illegal fires and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. It has been indeed a worse cause, but not an easy one to achieve. Not with understanding current difficulties, our government has continued to demonstrate our commitment to the international sustainability and environmental agenda. This past December, Brazil has announced in the scope of the Paris Agreement that it will end for carbon neutrality by 2060. Moreover, Brazil will lead the UN high-level dialogue on energy in 2021, when we will seek innovative solutions, investments and multi-stakeholders partnerships. Even though the task before us is enormous, we are putting forward our best efforts in order to come up with ways to implement policies and projects that will allow the Amazon region to reach its full potential for the benefit of the Brazilian population and of the world, while preserving its natural wealth. A continuous and reliable work in addressing development and preventing environmental illegalities in the region depends on having pragmatic policies aimed at land regularization, economic and ecological zoning, and the payment for environmental service. We have been working on a plan to secure the needed conditions for our environment agencies to resume at the best of their capacity operations and incursions into the forest. Operation Green Brazil 2, coordinated by the Minister of Defense, will conclude on next April 30. At that point, we are to resume regular enforcement operations led once again by Brazilian environment agencies. The National Council for Amazon is supported as a pilot project, a promised initiative called Economic Development and Environment Preservation Zone of the states of Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia, or simply known as the acronym of AMACRO. A regional planning strategy that aims at establishing non-polluting development programs. Furthermore, the Minister of Economy is working on the new Green Amazon project. We serve you to implement concrete measures to improve business environment and attract more investments to the region. Our additional endeavors this past year, especially after the re-establishment of the Council, have yielded positive results, mainly in the second semester when we managed to cut down deforestation by 17%. On the other hand, even though international interest in the status of the Amazon forest has sharply increased, the same cannot be said of the financial and technical international cooperation provided in the area, which we have felt short of current needs. It is clear to us that without a joint effort from partners both from the public and private sectors, we will not be able to achieve our main goal to have a soothing, prosperous, and preserved Amazon region. We know that the only way forward is to combine sustainable development and preservation measures. Let's be honest, our governments have the main responsibility in the protection of the environment in our countries, but it is sustainable development, particularly in the case of the Amazon region, we will only succeed with greater engagement from the private sector. We are seeing a variety of Amazon-driven financial endeavors being put together in order to turn policies and projects into reality. For instance, the ambitious program led by the Inter-American Development Bank called Amazon Initiative, which Brazil has supported from the beginning, focus particularly in the establishment of a bio-academy fund. I look forward to listening to Mr. Claver Caron's remarks today and learn the latest developments on that front. A long-established and quite innovative initiative is the Amazon Fund, devised in 2008 in partnership with the governments of Germany and Norway and managed by the Brazilian Development Bank. The fund has had an important role in the implementation of crucial projects in the Amazon region. We serve you to keeping this good record of accomplishment. We have been in negotiations with those two governments in order to resume the fund's financial outputs. Nevertheless, our efforts have not been enough. The Amazon Council is examining proposals and projects that will help us bring the Amazon to the new era of the knowledge-based economy and bio-academy. We envision that such projects must embrace biodiversity innovation and a great deal of technology to reach their full potential and at the same time preserve our environment. International investments are vital for these initiatives to prosper. We cannot rely solely on governments to promote innovative bio-based economies, to make them viable and profitable. Investors, business persons, farmers, workers, scientists, consumers and other private actors have to be committed and ready to act. I have maintained an agenda of virtual meetings with Brazilian and foreign business leaders to explore ways in which our combined efforts may result in consistent benefits for the Amazon region. What I have gleaned from these exchanges is that there is a clear willingness from the private sector to take part of these efforts. On the other hand, we must have sound and attractive financial mechanism capable of channeling donations and investments towards projects that benefit the Amazon. We are also looking at possible partnerships with the Bank of Amazon and the Brazilian Bank of Development with states and municipalities and with the Manaus Free Trade Zone Authority and the Amazon Development Authority. Finally, let me say that the mapping of bio-academy value chains will allow us to address snags and to expand competitive sectors such as fish farming, bio-farmaceuticals, Amazon nuts and fruits, amongst others. Such sectors have shown impressive return rates for investments. We already count on a network of research institutions dedicated to the Amazon, allowing the region to find its own technological solutions to development challenges. Innovation is key to achieving the transformation that is needed to boost local enterprise. It is crucial that private business takes the lead in financing research and scientific programs for the region. Governments, especially in the post-pandemic economic scenario, will not have available surplus to direct large sums to these kind of activities. Also, on the technological aspect, the use of e-commerce platforms seems to be the best way to achieve fair trade and facilitate financial flows for the local production. During the pandemic, e-commerce has proven that it is a well-established and reliable instrument in maintaining commerce and market dynamics. We should take advantage of such tools to make available to the world authentic and sustainable Amazon brand products. Brazil looks forward to working with all partners who are interested in the preservation and sustainable development of the forest, bringing security and equitable opportunities to the more than 29 millions of Brazilians who live there. I invite all participants to engage with the Amazon Green Recovery Agenda. And I look forward to discuss the follow-up initiatives aiming at mobilizing investments and support for the bioeconomy in the region. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We also recognize your efforts with such responsibility and commitment. And we value the work that you're leading in the Amazon and they look forward to contributing to all the initiatives that we may have available for the sustainability of such an important asset. Let me now turn to the president of the IDB, Mauricio Claver Carone. The IDB group has been a long-standing, very valued foreign partner. And it is my pleasure, Mauricio, to welcome you in your first participation as president of the bank. We're looking forward to learning about your institutional priorities and needs to contribute towards a regional and as mentioned by President Duque and by Vice President Moreau, a multi-stakeholder contribution to enhance that agenda for the Amazon. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Mauricio. And thanks to the World Economic Forum for the invitation and for the opportunity to be here. I want to thank President Duque and Vice President Moreau and all of the guests. And let me start with a broader context as regards our priorities. I mean, as you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Latin America and the Caribbean harder than any region in the world. Latin America and the Caribbean is about 8% of the world's population, but 27% of all of its COVID deaths. And meanwhile, Latin America and the Caribbean's GDP has collapsed by nearly 8%. The IDB's immediate priority is to help the region's recovery from this historic social economic crisis. As I say, the worst social economic crisis in the 61-year history of this bank. So we're tackling a major issue. As we help promote the recovery, though, we see opportunities for innovation and for growth in the bioeconomy. So there's a critical opportunity. And it's critical because Latin America and the Caribbean that Caribbean increasingly faces challenges related to climate change. And as we saw recently with the two hurricanes in Central America, climatic events can quickly create and worsen social economic problems. So we need to move fast in order to spur recovery and to help prevent and mitigate future crises. The Amazon, as was said by President Duque and Vice President Moreau, is key to the region's social economic recovery. Its sustainability and first environmental resilience. To preserve this ecosystem, we need to implement sustainable development models that work for more than 30 million people who live in the Amazon. Through the Leticia Pact, Amazon countries have created momentum and political support for the region's sustainable and inclusive development. And these countries have asked the IDB to help make this a reality through an Amazon-driven initiative and specific funding instruments. And that's what we're gonna do. The IDB's working closely with the authorities from Brazil, Colombia, and other Amazon countries. And we're gonna present our initiative, our Amazon initiative, as Vice President Moreau alluded to, to our board of directors in mid-March. And then we're gonna present it to our governors in Barranquilla, Colombia, President Duque, at the end of March. So without stealing the thunder, per se, from the annual meeting in Barranquilla, we will be announcing the details of this Amazon initiative. Let me preview a few aspects and kind of the thinking behind it. So we're working with our regional partners, like the Amazon Cooperation Treat Organization, to enhance regional synergies and knowledge platforms, complimenting each Amazon country's sovereign agendas. But just as importantly, we're working a pair of technological advances and private sector engagement to boost the Amazon's bioeconomy. And we are working day and night to prepare this initiative for its launch and for its board approval. This type of collaboration is key. Many organizations already are doing excellent work for the Amazon, and we wanna build on that. And here at the IDB, we have the experience and have created and managed innovative, sustainability-based, focused funds, already with partners, including Canada, France, the UK, and we've mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars. We also have robust partnerships with the leading climate funds, including the Global Environmental Facility and the Green Climate Fund, where we're actually the fourth-largest partner. We have experience mobilizing these diverse multi-sectorial partners to join us in an ambitious initiative and sustainable urbanization, agriculture, climate change, and many other topics. And all of that said, we're working on this, we look forward to launching it, we look forward to the partnership, and we appreciate the partnership we've had with President Duque, with Vice President Mural, and their governments. We look forward to announcing this initiative in Barranquilla at the annual meeting at the end of March. And for now, for the rest of the participation, I really look forward to learning, as we do here at the IDB, from the stakeholders and other partners, learning from all of you, to see how we can best help the Amazon by working together. That's our goal, and that's what we're committed to do. Thank you, Mauricio. The work of communities and civil society is also extremely relevant. We're very excited about the preview that you have shared with us with regards to the initiative that you're launching in Barranquilla. We appreciate your remarks very much and also look forward to joining efforts with you and other stakeholders. Let me remind our audience that English, Spanish, and Portuguese interpretation is available. Alexandra Moreira is the Secretary General of the Organization for the Treaty of the Amazon Cooperation. This was created in 2002 with the consent of its eight state parties in order to implement the treaty that was signed in 1978 and then amended in 1998 for the promotion of the sustainable development of the Amazon Cooperation. Alexandra, what are the priorities and the current needs of the organization that you preside over? Thank you very much, Marisol. Good morning and good afternoon. Mr. President Iván Duque from the Republic of Colombia and Mr. Vice President of the Federal Republic of Brazil, Mr. Hamilton Morao, Mr. President of the Inter-American Bank of Development, Mauricio Carone, you in the World Economic Forum, Marisol, a pleasure to be here again and all those who are not well. Allow me to continue in English. The Biodiversity Potential is the main differential of competitiveness in our Amazon countries and bio-economy may become an important driver to the internal development of our region. We understand bio-economy in our least-eager way as the economy of living in harmony and balance among the people and nature. This road concept enables to coordinate two apparent conflicts approach, economic growth and ecosystem integrity conservation. Through promoting virtuous process basis on the use of innovative biodiversity models, driving an economic model, more harmonies with nature and helping to reduce the Amazon regions outside of socioeconomic inequality. In this context, greater opportunities and mutual benefits for ecosystems and people may result in promoting the conservation of forests, water resource and biodiversity. In summary, bio-economy can become a powerful instrument for economic growth and poverty reduction in the Amazon region. Additionally, bio-economy must be developed through inter-scientific dialogue combining the high innovation and technology of modern science with traditional and local knowledge. The implementation of bio-economy will consider the development of industrialization and transformation of unique produce from our biodiversity in an inclusive way. Coordinators, small, medium and large-scale initiatives and encourage sustainable inter-pernorship. As an economic driver, we did the local, regional, international arenas. The bio-economy will allow us to put aside our country's economic dependence from the primary raw material producing sectors that are affecting many of our ecosystems and particularly our Amazonian population. Right now, we are working with a cooperative agency and strategic partners such as IDV within the converge of the Amazon Cooperative Treaty and the Leticia PAC Initiative. ACTO is working since 1978, inviting the urgency to develop practical actions of modern machos such as biodiversity in order to reduce the existing asymmetries and improve the living condition in the Amazon. Currently, the A-member countries are discussing the Biodiversity Regional Program having among its central themes the promotion of bio-economy in this broadcast concept. In this part, I want to request to the President Duque of Colombia to join us approve urgently this important program within the framework of ACTO. Also, I want to notice that the ACTO approved last week the preparation of the first rapid assessment of biological diversity and ecosystem service under the methodology of the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform Platform of Biodiversity and Ecosystems. That's a low lead to show and to know better the more specific values of our biodiversity. And just for example, and finally, for example, the Asaipo, Jasmine and Cocoa and many other existing products throughout the Amazon region have a significant economic value along with a high potential for biodiversity conservation. For example, within an agroforestry production system, the Asaipo offers for farmers a profit stability around the five to 10 times higher the livestock's production and two to four times more than the soybean productions. So working in the region is not easy. And it's a worldwide challenge because our goal is not only better well being for people and nature in the Amazon but also for the planet as a whole. Thank you very much. Thank you, Alexandra. We're short of time. So I would like to invite the vice president of Brazil and the president of Colombia for very short closing remarks. We understand that we need committed leadership and multi-state cordial participation together with private investments involving the communities and innovation so that we can harness that potential of the bioeconomy of the Amazon which is fundamental for people and for nature and for the planet as well. So by his president Mural, your closing remarks, you already laid your vision and priorities. What type of public-private partnerships will be required to realize that vision? And what are those very specific opportunities to engage? The sustainable future of the Amazon depends on the expansion of the bioeconomy. This will only become a reality with the participation of the private sector. We know that curing conditions for investing in the region are not ideal in view of the lacking infrastructure. Our government is engaged in promoting an attractive business environment and boosting economic sectors. The ministry of private interest to profit projects in the region. A project called New Green Amazon is in the works with a view to strategy for sustainable development in Brazil. The establishment at strategic points of value concentrating units, the so-called bio factories, seems to be a good way to combine public and private efforts. The Açaí Berry is an interesting case study. It is a world-known Amazon product that is already widely spread through global markets. Production is scattered all over the Amazon, sometimes deep into the forest where the Açaí tree grows. Public and private investments in the sustainable production, market and drainage of the Berry have been helping local populations to be part of the procession of the good, adding value to their work, allowing adequate incomes and allowing the world to benefit from an extraordinary product from the Amazon. Thank you. Very loud and clear, Mr. Vice President. Thank you very much. President Duque challenges and opportunities in the forest agenda are plenty. What are your perspectives on the partnerships and the financial needs? And would you please, again, share your call of action? Thank you so much, Marisol. And also my thank you to Vice President Morao and President Chavez-Cono from the IDB and Alexandra. And my message is this. The most important thing that we have accomplished in the last two years regarding the protection of the Amazon is the Leticia Act. And why do I mention that? Because this strategy has been elevated to a presidential level. We have all the presidents from the Amazon have been signed the Leticia Act. We have had for two years a follow-up with clear objectives and the support from the IDB and OTCA. And where do we have to focus? I will mention the following. Five key forestation. And we can only be successful. First, if we recovered land has been affected, but if we also involve communities in nature-based solutions, conservation contracts. The second thing, the concept of biodiverse cities. Cities in the Amazon, we have to make them greener, cleaner transportation, reduce, reuse, recycle, circular economy. We have to get them more involved in the uses of non-conventional renewable energies. And we have to teach children, for instance, very early childhood, how to protect the biodiversity. The third element, bioeconomy. We need to connect the richness of the region with sustainable development of products from the Amazon. And we have to make them being conscious in the world that they are important. Like we're talking about Kamukamu, we're talking about Sachaichi, we're talking about, for example, Arasah, products from the region that can reach the world industry in a sustainable way. Bio and ecotourism. We need to link the local communities and communities to be the promoters of sustainable tourism in the Amazon. Financing. And this is very important. We want to have the IDB, and I'm very happy to hear that President Claver Caron is launching this in Barranquilla, because we need to have the tools for the private sector, but also for the public sector, not only for central governments, but for local governments. So the investment can be connected to the projects that are going to protect the Amazon basin. Local production, which is very important, and is how do we create the concept that we can produce conserving and conserve-producing industry. And last but not least, the whole idea of nature-based solution connected with the protection of the Amazon as the most important place in the world for the capture of carbon dioxide. We're talking about 100,000 million of CO2 metric tons that are captured every year. So if we protect the Amazon with this content, what we're also contributing is to protect the whole world. So the Laticia Pact is the umbrella so that all these elements that I have just mentioned will have an impact in the following years. And having the private sector, the public sector, and civil society is going to make this bigger, stronger, and this is a must. Thank you, Mr. President. Indeed, consensual agreements are fundamental as it is to bring all stakeholders together into joint action for the Amazon and its sustainability of such an important... Yeah, Mr. President. Just 20 seconds. Something I also want to reiterate. The importance of OTCA and how the Laticia Pact and the participation of the IDB has to be the element to give OTCA a growing space around the Amazon countries. It was signed almost 42 years ago. And this institution has to become the number one coordination policy for the Amazon in the countries with the IDB and with the help of all the countries that have signed the Laticia Pact. Sorry for that. No, Mr. President, very important that the relevance of OTCA was reiterated. That was my next line. So working together with the IDB, with the governments, with OTCA, and other stakeholders will be certainly part of a very interesting agenda. And we look forward to responding to that call of action, Mr. President. We realize how relevant the sustainability of the Amazon is for the region, also for the planet. Thank you very much for sharing all these very insightful and valuable contributions for this agenda.